On the 23rd May I addressed the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce under the chairmanship of its President, Sir Alfred Jones, who treated me with the most unbounded hospitality. The meeting was very large and successful, and although my views aroused criticism and were objected to by some speakers, I had a chance to reply in acknowledging a vote of thanks, and as I had the strongest arguments I had little difficulty in effectively answering objections. The _Westminster Gazette_ of the 21st May, the day before I went to Liverpool, had the following article: Mr. Bryce stated the case against the bread tax with admirable point and force in a speech last night at Aberdeen. He dealt with its protective aspect, and the part it seemed destined to play in helping on an Imperial Zollverein, and had an excellent passage as to the effect of the tax on the very poor: he said: And when you get lower still, when you approach that large section of our people--in many places 30 per cent. of the population--which lives on the verge of want, it becomes a crushing burden, which means reduced subsistence, frequent hunger, weakness of body, and susceptibility to disease. The poor man suffers not merely because his margin is so small that the least addition to price tells, but because he can only afford the simplest and cheapest kinds of food. Bread to him is not only an article of first necessity, but of last necessity, etc. The comment, "He dealt with its protective aspect and the part it seemed destined to play in helping on an Imperial Zollverein," shows the alarm in the Liberal ranks. One of the speakers at the Liverpool meeting, who objected to my arguments, spoke of the marvellous prosperity of Great Britain, all due, as he said, to Free Trade. In my reply I used with great effect this extract from Mr. Bryce's speech, and said that if about 8_d._ per head for a whole year meant to 30 per cent. of the population "a crushing burden, which means reduced subsistence, frequent hunger, weakness of body, susceptibility to disease," I could not see that it could be called a prosperous country. I said I do not believe that gentleman ever saw a prosperous country. Let him come to the protectionist United States of America, or to protectionist Canada, and he will see countries where there is hardly a soul who does not spend at least 8_d._ a week on pleasure or amusement. This was apparently an unanswerable retort. I found this paragraph of Mr. Bryce's very useful on more occasions than one.